Chaos in Kinshasa

From beloved Congolese comics creator Barly Baruti and Belgian comics critic Thierry Bellefroid, translated from the original French by Batchelder Award-winning translator Ivanka Hahnenberger

A Harlem gangster’s trip to Central Africa to attend the legendary 1974 Ali-Foreman “Rumble in the Jungle” boxing match becomes a one-way ticket to the seedy underground of Zaire-complete with espionage, murder, and a communist plot to overthrow Zaire’s infamous President Mobutu.

When Ernest, a low-level gangster from Harlem, wins tickets to travel to Zaire to attend the “Rumble in the Jungle,” the now-legendary bout between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, he’s eager to reconnect with his African roots and escape the ruthless gang leaders he’s indebted to back home. But in Zaire, Ernest becomes entangled in an Angolan coup against the country’s embattled president Mobutu Sese Seko–inspired by Che Guevara himself–and soon realizes that Zaire may hold even more dangers for him than Harlem ever could.

A Cold-War-era thriller set against the backdrop of a landmark moment in sports history, Chaos in Kinshasa features Barly Baruti’s characteristic art and Thierry Bellefroid’s punchy dialogue woven in with the elements of a great gangster story–sex, spies, bribes, and murder. A thrill ride through a pivotal moment in Cold War, African, and sports history.